Like Caroline.
My little girl’s face burst into my mind’s eye as two new sentries pressed the barrels of their weapons into the small of my back.I straightened, glancing back to see their smug expressions before Ian’s words coaxed me forward.
“Come on, Adam.”His tone was etched with disappointment, like a parent whose child had failed to make the team.“We have lots to discuss.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Caroline
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THE MINUTES HAD PASSEDlike hours since he’d been gone, the hours stretching into long, vacuum-filled voids that felt like days.
I’d left the bed as soon as the hotel’s doctor had said it was sensible, the warmth of its covers no longer comforting without my master’s body.All that reprieve had bought me, though, was the liberty of pacing the carpet of the no-doubt expensive suite, while trying not to overthink Adam’s plight.
Where was he?What was happening?Was he okay?
And all the while, the bag we’d dragged around since Zurich called to me, goading with its simple answers.I could take the gun and use some of the money to bribe the officer outside my door, but what would I do with the newfound freedom?There was nowhere I could go and nothing more I could do to help him.
For the next few hours, Adam would have to get by without me.
Why did I agree to the ICC’s ridiculous plan?Closing my eyes, I fought back the looming tears.Why did I let him go?
Once again, I was struck by the laughable notion that I could actually stop Harper from doing anything.He might have discarded his uniform for me on theCarla, but he was still my commander general, whatever he wore.The truth was, the power dynamic in our relationship was far more equal than it had once been, but without him, I was lost and lonely, as though I needed his strong arms and soft voice to control and hypnotize me.
The empty space he left behind was deafening, its silence threatening to suck me under, even without the stress of worrying what the odious Jackson was up to.
A gentle knock at the suite’s door garnered my attention, and rising from one of the plush seats, I strode to open it.
“Judge Akari?”I hadn’t been expecting any visits, let alone one from the Japanese judge.“What’s happened?Is he okay?”
“He is okay,” she reassured me.“I came to see how you’re doing, Caroline.I know you have not been much involved in the negotiations, but rest assured, the ICC recognizes and appreciates your testimony.Listening to the voice of victims is one of the most significant parts of my job.”
“Right.”I didn’t know what to make of that little speech.
I considered telling her that I hadn’t offered her, Meyer, or Laurent any personal testimony, having only spoken to Kaspar and the Swiss police, but there didn’t seem to be any point.She and the other officials held all the cards as far as my future was concerned.The officer on duty outside my door twenty-four hours a day was proof alone of that, and if, God forbid, the worst happened, I’d need their support more than ever.
